Sovereign Files Suit in Battle
With Shareholder Relational

By

David Enrich Dow Jones Newswires

Updated Nov. 11, 2005 12:01 a.m. ET

Escalating a battle with its largest shareholder, Sovereign Bancorp Inc. said it filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania court against Relational Investors LLC and denied the investor's demand for Sovereign to hand over its books and records.

Sovereign said that Relational's demand for books and records, made last week in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, goes beyond the scope of Pennsylvania law and is based on ulterior...